MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday invited former Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe to discuss President Donald Trump’s war on Iran and efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, a bid the Supreme Court cast doubt on during arguments earlier in the day.
The “Last Word” host played audio from the court session, during which Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer claimed the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to people born in the U.S. has “implications” in our “new world” that the amendment’s framers wouldn’t have intended.
Chief Justice John Roberts fired back, “Well, it’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.”
“I think the main thing to focus on is the comment that you quoted from John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States,” Tribe told O’Donnell. “And I was, I have to say, proud of him as a former student when he said, yes it is a new world, but it’s the same Constitution.”
He continued, “That’s a very fundamental point. This was a Constitution designed to endure for the ages. Just because there might be a different form of immigration problem today … doesn’t mean we throw the Constitution out.”
